For the first time in his career, Trout required a stint on the DL in 2017 after he tore the UCL in his left thumb in late May. He missed 39 games as a result of the injury, but showed no lingering effects of the ailment after returning to the lineup following the All-Star break. Over his final 67 games, Trout hit .285/.429/.552, with 17 homers, 36 RBI, 12 steals, and a 58:48 BB:K in 301 plate appearances, a pace that would have made him a 40-homer, 30-steal player over a full 162-game season. The per-game production was once again at an MVP level, and it's hard to believe that he's still just 26 years old. Since the second half of the 2017 season, the Angels have upgraded the supporting cast around Trout, and his run-production numbers could tick up slightly in 2018 as a result. Even if he's no longer the unanimous choice as the No. 1 overall pick in drafts, he's still on the short list of players in the conversation.

For the third consecutive season, Arenado finished as a top-six fantasy earner among hitters. He's averaging 40 homers and 131 RBI over the past three years, and his batting average has seen steady growth as Arenado has learned to be more patient (9.1 percent walk rate last season) and work the ball the other way when he has to. There was a notable dip against right-handers in 2017, with his OPS against righties falling more than 100 points to .843, but his bounce-back against lefties more than made up for it. He remains a Gold Glove defender at third base, so he's on the field every day, plus he's productive away from Coors Field (.283/.355/.531 on the road last season). Arenado makes consistent contact, is just entering his age-27 campaign and his home park gives him an excellent floor for fantasy production. Thinking Arenado won't return first-round value again seems silly at this point.

Altuve proved that his 2016 power surge wasn't a fluke, matching his home-run total (24) from the previous year and setting new career bests with his entire slash line (.346/.410/.547) while improving his success rate on the basepaths (84.2 percent). For the fourth consecutive season, he led the American League in hits, despite his lowest total of plate appearances since 2012. A perennial All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner, Altuve has played at an elite level annually since 2014, when fantasy owners were enthralled by his ability as a 50-steal contributor. An early-season spike in strikeouts in April was offset by three straight months with a K-rate under 10 percent, and while his season rate was up from 9.8 to 12.7 percent, whiffs are not an issue for him. As part of a Houston core that figures to remain intact for at least another two years, Altuve is positioned to once again make another run at being the best player in the game.

Even Kershaw wasn’t immune from the 2017 home run barrage as he recorded a HR/9 north of 1.0 for the first time, allowing 23 long balls, by far a career high. He also averaged just 6.5 innings per start, his first season below 7.0 since 2012. The lefty also missed over a month due to injury for the third time in the last four seasons. Still, Kershaw remains the top fantasy starting pitcher, though durability likely precludes him from top overall player consideration. He’s as dominant as ever, though his 2017 walk rate (1.5 BB/9) regressed back to career norms after his ultra-stingy 2016 campaign. While it’s tempting to overlook the issue as Kershaw’s health appears fine, back woes often hibernate; they rarely go away. Injury risk puts him atop a tier with fellow aces Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber and Chris Sale. The days of tossing 230-plus innings are likely over anyway, even if he stays healthy all year.

Stanton's highlight-reel blasts and career 13.4 HR/AB rate have long made him a chic early-round fantasy pick, with owners willing to bet on the unmatched power he could bring over a full season of good health. That gamble paid massive dividends in 2017 with the oft-injured outfielder, who hadn't played more than 125 games in five of his previous seven campaigns, avoiding the DL entirely and swatting an MLB-best 59 homers. Stanton also capitalized on the improved talent around him in the Miami lineup to compile 132 RBI and 123 runs, placing him first and third, respectively, in baseball. A six-point drop in strikeout percentage (to 23.6 percent) also offered optimism that the .281 batting average he submitted last season may be sustainable. Although Stanton's injury history makes him a riskier investment than other stars, he'll move into a much more hitter-friendly environment for his home games and benefit from a deep supporting cast in the lineup around him in 2018 and beyond after he was traded to the Yankees in December.

Can we please stop the "Turner doesn't have the track record to be a first-rounder" nonsense? If you want to argue injury-risk, OK, you have a point... maybe. However, there's no denying that Turner's skills are elite. He deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Billy Hamilton and Dee Gordon with respect to steals, while hitting well more than twice as many homers as them, combined. Double-digit homers with at least 50 steals is first-round material, especially since his contact rate and groundball proclivity portend a fantasy-friendly batting average. That brings us to health. In 2015, his first full season as a professional, Turner played 142 games, most at Double- and Triple-A before appearing in 27 with the Nationals. In 2016, he played 156 contests, split between Triple-A and the majors. If you want to avoid a first-round talent because he was hit by a pitch in late June, costing him about two months, that's your prerogative.

Correa took another big step forward in his age-22 season, setting new career-highs in homers (24), batting average (.315), on-base percentage (.391) and slugging percentage (.550) while cutting his strikeout rate down to 19.1 percent. The counting stats could have been even better if he hadn't lost two months to a thumb injury suffered while he was sliding into home plate in early July. After returning in September, Correa hit just four homers in the final month of the season, but he swatted five in 18 postseason games while doing his part to help the Astros bring home a World Series title. After reaching double-digit stolen bases in each of his first two seasons with Houston, Correa had just two steals in 2017, which is a particularly surprising shift when you consider that he was 27-for-34 (79.4 percent) in his career prior to last season. With an excellent supporting cast returning around him in Houston, Correa could emerge as an MVP candidate with a completely healthy season in 2018.

Lindor hit more homers last season (33) than he did in his first two seasons combined (27), but impressively, he did that without selling out at the plate to add pop as he accomplished that feat with the same strikeout rate (12.9 percent K%) and walk rate (8.3 percent BB%) that he had in 2016. The difference came from an increased ability to barrel up pitches, which Lindor did in 7.2 percent of his batted-ball events (4.1 percent in 2016). Somewhat surprisingly, Lindor's HR/FB rate wasn't through the roof (14.0 percent), he simply hit the ball in the air more often, improving his flyball rate from 28.4 percent to 42.4 percent last season. The flyball increase led to the drop in batting average, but the altered approach is a net positive for the Cleveland offense and to fantasy owners. Lindor was effective again as a basestealer, going 15-for-18 despite the increased power and a slight drop in OBP. The new level looks sustainable, making Lindor a top-25 fantasy player and potential MVP candidate.